Yahoo acquires content sharing startup Snip.it

Yahoo has acquired content discovery and sharing website Snip.it, and the service has been shut down.

Snip.it in San Francisco is offering users up to Feb. 21 the option to download and export their content, called snips.

"As of today, we will no longer support snipping," the Snip.it team said in a post on the company's website on Tuesday. The startup used to allow users to "collect the best of the web, wrapped in your opinions."

The acquisition seems to be part of a broader trend for Internet companies to acquire startups more for their talented staff than for the business or technology.

Yahoo could not be immediately reached for comment. It said in a Twitter message that it was "thrilled to welcome" the Snip.it team to the company.

"We are thrilled at the opportunity to bring Snip.it's vision to a larger scale at Yahoo!," said the Snip.it team. "While we can't share the specifics of what we'll be building, we are excited about the opportunity to take social news to new, exciting heights at Yahoo!."

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Yahoo acquired in December video chat startup OnTheAir, but the deal was made for the talent, and the product was shut down. In October, it also acquired a recommendations app called Stamped. Its iPhone app, which helped people keep track off and recommend things like restaurants and books, was also to be discontinued. The Stamped acquisition was Yahoo's first after Marissa Mayer took charge as CEO of the company.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

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